The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-06-09

bass, the alto, the tenor, the soprano, IL
the grand march of the Union.
| congratulate you, the officers and sol
diers Of this National encampment, that
( il foreign attack should at any time bt
made you would be ready, and there
would be millions of the drilled men o.
North and South, like the men of my hrs'
text which could k eep rank, and like the
men of my second text that would moi
miss hairzbreath.
"At this National drill when :thirty-ont
states of the Union are represented, and
between the decorations of the graves OF
the Southern dead, which TOOK place I
few days ago and the decorations of the
graves Of the Northern dead, which shall
take place tomorrow, l would stir the
Christian patriotism and gratitude not
only of this soldiery here present, but OF
all the people, by putting before them
the difference between these times, when
the soldiers of all sections meet in peace,
and the times when they met in cor test.
Contrast the feeling Of Sectional bitter
ness in 1S6! with the feeling OF sectional
unity in 1885,. At the first date the South
had heuished the National air. "The
Star Span gled Banner" and the North had
banished the popular air of "Wag Down
South in Dixie" The Northern people
were 'mudsills' and the SoatherA PEOPLE
were white trash 1F6 More Southern
people killed IN battle, the better the
North liked T. The more Northern peo-
killed in battle, the better the South liked
1t. For four years the head of Abraham
Lincoln or jefferson DAVIS would tato
been worth a million dollars, il delivered
on either side the line No need now,
standing in our pulpits and platforms,
e -A.-E Z. 1. .
net hate each other. To estimate how
dearly they Lowell each other, count up
the bombshels that were hurled, and the
carbines that were loaded, ana the cav
airy horses that were mounted; North
and South facing each Other all ABOUND,
in the attempt to kill Tht two sections
not only marsha!ed all their earthly hos
tilities. but tr,od to reach up and get hold
OF the sword of Heaven, and the prayer
of the Northern and Southern pulpits
gave moro information to the Heavens
about the best mode of settling this
trouble than was ever used, For four
years both sides tried TO get hold of the
LordS thundcrbo!ts, but could not quite
reach thor II. At the breaking out of the
WEI we had not for months heard of nv
dear uncle, Samuel j. Talmage, president
of the Oglethorpe University, in Georgia,
He was about the grande3t man ] ever
knew, and as GOO ne cooi could be. The
first we heard of h IN was his opening
prayer IN the Confederate Congress in
Richmond, which was reported in the
New York papers, viii prayer, il an
swered, would, to say the least, have left
all his northern relatives in very uncOm-
Portable circumstances. The ministry at
the North prayed one way ami the minis
try at the South prayed the other way.
No use in hiding the fact that the North
and the South cursed each other With 4
whitening and aIl-ccnsumng curse.
BESIDE that antipathy of war time
place the complete acco d of this time
Not long ago meeting was held in New
York to raise money to build home at
Richmond for crippled Confederate
soldiers, the meeting presided
over by man who lost an arm and
a leg in Fighting on the Northern side, and
the leg not lost so hurt that it does not
amount to much. Tho cotton exhibition
held not long ago in Atlanta was attended
by tens of thousands of Northern people,
and by General Sherman, who was greet
ed with kindness, as though they had
never seen him before At the New
Orleans exhibition, held two years ago,
thousand fold kindlicr feeling after the
war than before the war. No moro use
for gunpowder in this country, except for
rife practice or Fourth of July pyrotech-
MICS, or a shot at a roebucK IN the Aiiron-
dacks Brigad!er Generals IN the Southern
Confederacy making their fortunes as
lawyers in the Northerl cities. Rivers of
Georgia, Alabama ana North Carolina
turning ml,l5 of NEW England capitalists
The old lions of war-Fort Sumter, ana
Moultrie, and Lafayette, and Plckens,
and Hamilton, sound asleep on
their iron paws, AMI instead of
raising money to keep enemies out Of our
New York harb)r, raising money for the
Bartholdi statue on Be Hoes Island, fig
ure of Liberty with upliftel torch to light
the way TO al who want TO come in. In
stead Of war anupathles, Whc you could
not cross the line between the contestants
without fighting your way with keen
steel, or getting through by passes care
fully scrutnised at every step by bayo-
nets, you need only RAILROAD ticket from
New York to Charleston or New Orleans
to go clear through, ana there is no use
for any weapon sharper or stronger than
. steel pen. Since the years of time be-
gan their roll has there ever been in
about two decades such an nverWhe Ginning
antithesis as between the war time
of complete bitterness and this time OK
complete sympathy:'
Contrast also the domestic life of thos e
times with the domestic Lie Of these
times. Many Of you are either leaving
home or far away from it, communicating
by unce tain letter. What Il morning
that was when you left home! Father and
mother crying, sisters crying you smiling
outside, but crying, inside. Everybody
nervous and excited Boys of the blue
and gray! whether you started from the
banks of the Hudson, or the Savannah, or
the Androsccgg don't you remem be r
the scenes at the front door, at the rail
car window, on the steamboat landings.
The huzza could not drown out the sup
pressed sadness. DON'T you remember
those charges to write home often,
and take good care of yourself, be good
boys, and the goodbye kiss which they
thought, and you thought, might
be forevC.! Then the inconsistencies
as you paced the river bank On star
light night on picket duty, and the sly
tears which you wipe off when you heard
a group at the campfire singing the
plantation song about the old folks
at home. The dinner of hard tack on
Thanksgiving Day, the Christmas without
any presents, and the long nights in the
hospital so different from the sickness
when you were at home with mother and
sister at the bed side, and the clock in the
| hall giving the exact moment for the
| medicine; and that forced march, when
| your legs ached, AMI your heal achcd
and your wounds achcl, and more than
all, your heart ached. Homesickl ess